[fitsbits] Proposed Changes to the FITS Standard

[Phil Hodge]

Steve Allen wrote:

> So what applications are there, other than fv, which do not a priori
> know what they are expecting when they read a FITS file?
> In particular, are there any which, when they find extensions, actually
> take different actions based on what they discover?


The catfits task in the STSDAS package under IRAF prints a "table of 
contents" for a FITS file.  If the EXTEND keyword is absent, catfits 
does not look for extensions.  I won't defend the EXTEND keyword; I'm 
just answering your question by giving an example.  If an application 
expects data in one or more extensions, there isn't much point in the 
application first checking the EXTEND keyword.

Phil